Alleged family stalker causes Homeland Security alert

By Daniel Tepfer

Updated 5:35 pm, Tuesday, August 9, 2016

BRIDGEPORT - The city called in the FBI and Homeland Security on Sunday after a Turkish citizen was found to have a car loaded with jugs of an unidentified liquid after he was stopped for following a frightened family in their recreational vehicle.

Police said Necati Harsit, 54, citing his religion, refused to disclose the contents of the jugs. The containers were later determined to contain cologne and water, police said.

“We were initially concerned the situation was connected to terrorism,” Bridgeport Police Capt. Brian Fitzgerald said. “There were a number of jugs, a large amount of cash and two passports in the car. The FBI and (Homeland Security) members looked at the situation but could not find a link to terrorism.”

Harsit, who last address was in Rochester, N.Y., was charged with six counts of stalking and six counts of breach of peace. He was being held in lieu of $250,000 bond.

The situation began, police said, when the family — two parents and four children — contacted police, saying an older, white Chevrolet Impala had been on their bumper all the way from the Bronx. Fitzgerald said the family did not know Harsit.

The family pulled into a church parking lot off the Route 8/25 Connector and the Impala followed them, police said.

When officers arrived, Harsit was sitting behind the wheel of the car.

When they asked him why he had been following the family, police said he replied, “Because I want to.”

Police said there was about $14,000 in cash in the car’s center console and the backseat and floor were filled with jugs containing an unidentified liquid.

Gunny, the bomb/drug sniffing dog from the Stratford Police Department was brought to the scene and alerted officers to a large suitcase in the trunk, biting at it, police said.

Inside the suitcase, police said, they found two more jugs, one filled with a yellow liquid, the other a clear one.